Deepening Your Understanding of East of Eden

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Deepening Your Understanding of East of Eden

1.    Either visit the Steinbeck museum in Salinas, or research Steinbeck's life (there are some wonderful online resources).  If you visit the museum, include a receipt of your visit.  If you research, include a bibliography of your sources (Use three of more sources. If you need help with the bibliography, check out easybib.com).  Make a Venn diagram in which compare the fictional representation of the Hamilton family from the book with Steinbeck's family history.  Use an 8 1/2' x 11" piece of paper so that you have lots of room for your specific details.
 

2. Read Genesis 4: 1-16 (available online). Find a minimum of five specific instances in Genesis, which relate to East of Eden and complete the following chart (If you need more room, feel free to use a separate piece of paper:


 

Genesis	East of Eden
Example: Cain gave the fruit of the soil as an offering to the Lord	Charles gave his dad a penknife that he bought with money he earned chopping wood. Chopping wood is a way of working with the land, so in essence, Charles gave his father a gift resulted from his working with the land, just as Cain did.

3.  The majority of the characters in this book have names that start with either "A" or "C."  Write a paragraph in which you reflect on Steinbeck's reasons for choosing the names he did for his characters.  How does his choice of names support the themes of the book? (Hints: Consider the personality traits of the different characters and the roles they play in the story. You may also want to look up some of the names in a Hebrew dictionary.)
 
4. When you return in the fall, we will be further exploring East of Eden, with a particular focus on the comment it makes about good and evil. Choose ONE of the following quotations and write a thoughtful paragraph in which you use examples from the book as you explain how the quotation relates to East of Eden.  Quotation choices:
 

a. There is some soul of goodness in things evil,

Would men observingly distill it out.

    -Henry V by William Shakespeare
 

b. We cannot freely and wisely choose the right way for ourselves unless we know both good and evil.

        -My Religion by Helen Keller

c. There is never an instant's truce between virtue and vice.  Goodness is the only investment that never fails.

    –Walden by Henry David Thoreau

d. For us, with the rule of right and wrong given us by Christ, there is nothing for which we have no standard.  And there is no greatness where here is not simplicity, goodness, and truth.

    –War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy